Born of Fire (The Cloud Warrior Saga Book 8) (22 page)

This couldn’t be what he had warned him about, could it?

But he thought that it could. Hadn’t he felt the dark malevolence of the creature that attempted to settle inside him? Hadn’t he
known
how the elemental wanted his connection to spirit?

“Not an elemental,” Honl said again. The others around him hadn’t moved, as if keeping watch… or holding him where he was, in case something had happened to him. “I did not understand before.”

“And you do now?”

“I understand the purpose of this tower and the one in your homeland. They serve the same purpose.”

“What is that?” Tan asked.

“A seal. A way to suppress the darkness.”

Tan shivered at the thought, and Amia touched his arm, trying to reassure him. If what Honl said was true, there was nothing that he could say that would reassure him. “You’re saying the places of convergence are a way to seal out whatever this creature is?”

Honl shook his head. “Not a creature.”

“I don’t understand.”

“This is not a creature, not like you or these,” he said, sweeping his hand toward the elementals guarding him. Tan suddenly knew that they weren’t sure what he would do, of whether what he had done had worked to push back the darkness. “That is the darkness,” Honl said.

“And you still think that I am the light?” Tan asked.

Honl’s face took on a troubled expression. Since he’d bonded to spirit, since he had changed, however it was that he had, Honl had never seemed uncertain. That he would now… that worried Tan.

“You are a part of the light,” Honl said. “Perhaps that is all that is needed.”

“For what?”

Honl sighed, and wind fluttered with him. “You must repair what has been damaged. You must replace the seals of darkness. If we fail, it will come.”

Tan shivered, and this time, when Amia squeezed his arm, there was nothing reassuring about it.

T
an stood
among the draasin eggs, feeling the warmth radiating from them. The small draasin—well, not as small as he once had been—crawled around the eggs, nuzzling at some of them, stopping to sniff every so often.

A single lantern cast light around the cavern and Tan knelt in front of the fourth seal. Now that he knew to expect to find it, he had not been surprised to discover it at the center of the clutch of eggs. The seal, unlike the other three, was intact. Tan still didn’t know what they were for, and Honl had again disappeared, leaving him without answers.

He shaped a trickle of spirit into the Seal and light exploded through the cavern, tracing through the bonds on the walls. The draasin paused and swiveled his head around, sniffing the air for a moment and then huffing with a deep breath of steam.

The Records. At least now Tan knew where to find them, if not what they were for. Elanne and the other Bond Wardens secured the other three locations. Tan had not revealed this one to her, and would not until he had decided what he would do with the draasin eggs. Eventually, he had to share it with her. The Records of Par were not his secret to keep.

“They’re so extensive,” Amia said. She walked slowly and held her hand out in front of her, the way that she had since he’d managed to heal her from the spirit attack. He knew now that was what that had been: not an attempted bond, but an attack. “So many runes here. They share a story, but it’s more than I can follow.”

“These are the Records of Par. Elanne wasn’t able to tell me what they contained. I’m not sure that she even knew.”

Amia paused and turned toward the draasin eggs. “What do you intend to do with these?”

Tan watched the draasin as he crawled around the eggs and stopped in front of one. A streamer of flame erupted from his mouth and struck the eggs. Flames licked around the egg, as if caressing it, drawn into it by the strength of the fire bond.

It wasn’t surprising that the draasin chose that egg. Tan hadn’t known what to expect by bringing the draasin down here, but Tan had known that he needed a playmate, another to challenge him. Only, Tan didn’t know which of the draasin that would be.

“The draasin need to return,” he answered, making his way to the egg and setting his hand on it. Warmth radiated from the draasin egg, pulsing against him with the faint stirring of the baby within. He started feeding fire into this egg, much as he had done with the other. Like before, it seemed to pull on the fire with increasing appetite. “This was what the Utu Tonah sought. I don’t know if Marin knew, or what she intended, but it had to do with the Seal. And the draasin are tied to the Seal.”

If Honl was right, then Marin served a different master, one that they didn’t yet understand. But he would need to understand. Now that they had been attacked—using Amia to get to him—Tan had to know and anticipate what was coming. Somehow, Par was the key.

Amia slipped her hand into his. “I worry what will happen when they fully return.”

Tan continued to fill the egg with fire, letting it pour out of him. When it had been only Asboel and his family, there had been no real expectation that other draasin would return. Other than Asgar and the other hatchling, there were no others. Tan hadn’t asked, but he didn’t expect them to find a mate, which essentially made them the final draasin.

Now… Now there would be others. If Tan managed to find a way to hatch all of these, another two dozen draasin would rejoin the world. And then others could follow.

Finally, the draasin could fully return.

“They are elementals,” he said. “We need them to return.”

He would have to find someone to care for them. Tan couldn’t do that himself, not entirely. With his connection to fire and the fire bond, he would be the one needed to help the eggs hatch and could start the process of feeding them, but helping them eat and providing the day-to-day care, that would need to come from someone else. Otherwise, he would spend all of his free time with them.

Thankfully, he had someone he knew fire had faith in. Molly had shown saa that she would be strong, and she respected fire. She could help.

“And what of the other?” Amia asked. “What of
him
?”

Tan had no answer to that question. Not yet, and not without Honl to help. Whatever power that he’d fought as he’d tried to save her had been more powerful than anything that he’d ever faced before. And, if what he suspected was true, it was the reason for the Seals set around the city. The tower seemed to play some role, as well.

“The ancients seemed to know about that,” Tan said. Honl had called it a darkness and suggested that Tan might be the light, but he didn’t know what that meant or how it was significant. He didn’t doubt that it was. “We need to study and understand. I’m beginning to think that Honl is right about that.”

“Where has he gone?”

Tan shook his head. He could sense the elemental, but once again, it was faint. Wherever Honl had gone was far enough away as to be undetectable.

Were it not for the draasin eggs, and the fact that Tan felt almost compelled to help them hatch, he thought that he would have gone after Honl, to find out what drew the elemental away. With his ability to shape, the world was smaller for him than it was for most. He was able to travel on a shaping of wind and reach anywhere else in the world. Not only the mainland, but he could travel beyond, using the strength of the elementals to help guide him.

Except, he didn’t think that he could risk Amia on such a shaping. Taking her that far would tax even his strength, and though he might be able to draw on the elementals, he wouldn’t know exactly where he was going, which meant that he couldn’t use spirit in the shaping.

“Far away,” he said.

He returned his focus to the draasin egg, pushing more and more fire shaping into it, drawing from the fire elementals and the fire bond as he did. The egg began to glow, and then the shell softened. A sharp claw pressed against the egg, pushing through.

Tan released the shaping of fire as the draasin hatched and began to feed on the fire bond, drawing the strength that it needed in those first moments. He sighed as he watched another draasin enter the world. Hatching the others would take time, but he would take the time needed to return the draasin to the world. As he did, he would study, and learn, and try to understand what Marin had been doing and what she had attempted to free.

Amia squeezed his hand and rested her other hand on her stomach. She didn’t need to speak for him to know and feel the worry coursing through her. After everything they’d been through, both had hoped for quiet, and a chance for peace, but now… now it seemed that everything they had been through was only the beginning of something more, and possibly worse.

He forced a smile, knowing she could see through him. But just as she could read him, he read her and realized that her worry was not for him, or even for her, but for another.

Tan blinked and quickly drew on a shaping of earth and spirit. Amia let it wash over her without moving. With the shaping, he sensed a quiet stirring of life within her belly, something that he wouldn’t have noticed had he not shaped his love, something that he never did. With the bond between them, there was usually no need.

A worried smile crept across her mouth, and she nodded. “Yes, Tan. You will soon be a father to more than the draasin.”

Tan pulled her to him in a tight embrace, and they stood in the draasin cavern, with the two hatchlings and fire burning all around him, holding each other. At least in that moment, they found peace.

* * *

T
he Cloud Warrior Saga
will continue…

Broken of Fire, book 9 of the Cloud Warrior Saga, releasing September 2016. Sign up
here
to find out more!

* * *

W
ant
to read more in the Cloud Warrior Saga? Check out
Prelude to Fire
, Lacertin’s story set prior to events in Chased by Fire.

A warrior to a dying king discovers a destiny he never imagined.

Part 1 - First Warrior

Lacertin has served his king faithfully for decades, but has failed on his final mission for him. When he returns to the kingdoms, he discovers a dark secret to the king’s illness, and the only person who can truly help him hides a secret of her own. Lacertin must decide how much he will sacrifice for the people he cares most about.

Part 2 - Servant

Trapped in Incendin and tormented while searching for answers, Lacertin is rescued by a mysterious priest of Issa. Released from his torture, the priest reveals secrets of Incendin that challenge everything Lacertin thought he knew, and gives him a chance to be something more than the warrior he had been… if only he’s willing to believe in his calling to serve fire.